Yahoo Disappoints Again...
Yahoo! reported fourth quarter results Tuesday that beat Wall Street expectations but issued a tepid forecast for 2007.
The news sent the stock lower in after-hours trading until Yahoo chief executive officer Terry Semel reassured Wall Street that the company's new search tool would help boost Yahoo's sales later in the year.
Yahoo reported sales of $1.7 billion, up 13 percent from a year ago.
Excluding traffic acquisition costs (TAC), which is the amount of advertising revenue Yahoo shares with partners, the company reported revenue of $1.228 billion. Analysts were expecting Yahoo! to post sales of $1.22 billion on this basis, according to figures from Thomson First Call.
The company generated a net profit of $269 million, or 19 cents a share, compared to earnings of $683 million, or 46 cents a share, a year ago. Last year's figures did not include stock option expenses.
Yahoo recently rolled out a new search tool, code named Project Panama, to advertisers in the hopes of gaining ground it lost to Google.
But CEO Semel expressed optimism for 2007, despite the disappointing forecast.
"I am confident that our new structure and concentrated focus on Yahoo's key priorities puts us in the best position to take advantage of the many opportunities that we see ahead for 2007 and beyond," said Semel in a statement.
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